


You mean... Come Out?

by TonySawicki



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Mild Language, Not in the least bit smutty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 20:25:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8504212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonySawicki/pseuds/TonySawicki
Summary: When Alison lets more than she means to slip at a Girls' Night Out, will it bring her and Beth's relationship into the open or to a grinding halt?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Of course I don't own anything like Orphan Black, the characters, etc.

Beth Childs’ cellphone rang for the fourth time as she was driving home. Alison again. Exasperated, she put her on speaker. “Yeah, Ali, what is it?”

Alison bristled slightly at the brusque greeting. “Beth,” she said evenly. “We’re supposed to meet the others to go bowling. They’ll be expecting us at four o’clock—“

“Yeah well maybe that’s part of the problem right there,” Beth said casually. Alison recognized this careless tone. Beth was definitely still angry.

“I was just wondering what you’d like to do about it,” Alison went on, smoothing the tablecloth with her hand as she spoke.

“Why do I have to do something about it?” Beth said. “I didn’t make the plans.”

“I know that. I just mean, can you make it, or… what would you like me to tell them?”

“Dammit Alison, this is exactly the issue. You shouldn't have to tell them anything. We agreed—” Beth’s voice was rising.

“—I know—”

“ _—Months_ ago—”

“—I—yes—I—”

“—When this whole _thing_ started, we _both_ agreed—”

“I KNOW WHAT WE AGREED,” Alison blurted. Beth went quiet. Alison tried to clear the tears clogging her throat. “I… I effed up, okay, Beth? I know that. I’m perfectly aware, without you hurling it back in my face any time you deign to speak to me.” Her voice cracked on the last couple words.

Beth sighed, but resisted the urge to hang up the phone. Finally she said, “I’m sorry, Ali. You know, none of this,” she sighed again. “None of this was supposed to happen; I didn’t plan any of it—”

“And I did?” Alison said indignantly. “I have a family! I had a husband and a steady spot in the community theatre! I didn’t mean to… Well, and I certainly didn’t _plan_ on telling everyone about us!”

Beth pulled into her parking spot outside her apartment, but stayed in her seat talking to the speaker phone. “Then why did you? It seems like it should be pretty easy to _not_ say something you don’t want to say!”

“I don’t know, all right?” Alison shook her head uncertainly. “It just came out, it just… happened.”

She thought back on that stupid conversation. It had been five days ago; Tuesday was their Girls’ Night Out, but Beth had had to go to a retirement party for someone in her precinct, and Helena had been out of town in a hand-to-hand combat competition (she came very gleefully in second place).

Alison, Cosima, and Sarah had been sitting in a booth in the back of a pub, drinking wine and talking, when Alison slipped and said “we.”

“Wait, wait, who’s we?” Cosima interrupted.

“Shite, Alison, are you seeing someone?” Sarah grinned at her. They knew her marriage had pretty much fallen apart and were eager to hear about a new man in her life.

“Seeing? Oh! No, no,” Alison waved a hand dismissively. “I just meant we, um, Beth and I.”

“Oh,” Cosima looked distinctly disappointed.

Sarah raised an eyebrow. “You and Beth went to that new Italian restaurant? When?”

Alison smiled a shade too brightly. “Just on the weekend? They had a really nice prima—”

“This past weekend? Why?”

Alison’s smile didn’t falter. “Just to get dinner.”

“Oh my god,” Cosima snorted. “Do you guys hang out, just the two of you so you can talk about the rest of us??” She had had more wine than usual.

“Nooo,” Sarah laughed. “Do you?!”

“Of course not,” Alison forced a laugh too.

“Oh my god, you do,” Cosima covered her laughter with one hand.

“What do you say about us?” Sarah asked, shoving Alison playfully.

“Really, nothing—”

“Tell us what you talk about!” Cosima said, a bit loudly.

“Not you, all right?” Alison snapped. “When it’s just us we talk about _us_!”

Cosima was still giggling, but Sarah caught the difference in how Alison had said “us.” Years of scamming people meant she picked up on inflections pretty well.

“Sorry, Alison. We were just messin’ around,” she said, eyeing her carefully. “So… who should I bug for leftovers from the Italian place?”

Alison tucked her air behind her ear and said, “Um, me, I suppose. I took them home.”

“Beth’s too?”

Alison blinked a few times, quickly, then said, “Yes, she came over for a bit, after dinner. We watched a movie and just hung out for a bit.”

“Maybe up kinda late, yeah?” Sarah said, looking into her glass. “You were both late to Kira’s game Sunday morning, even though you showed up in separate cars.”

“They’re always in separate cars, “ Cosima rolled her eyes. “You know how Beth is.”

“Punctual?” Sarah said, raising an eyebrow at Alison again.

“No, she just doesn’t like riding in that minivan!” Cosima said.

Alison could feel her face getting warmer. The truth of course was it was a very deliberate part of their arrangement. They never arrived anywhere together; they took separate cars no matter what. Beth insisted it looked less suspicious that way.

“So why doesn’t Beth ever give you a ride?” Sarah said to Cosima. “Or I could come pick her up.”

Cosima waved a hand. “She likes to be in control.” Alison’s face was getting redder. “And it works for her; that’s why she’s always on time!”

“Except on Sunday,” Sarah said.

“Why are you making such a big deal of it?” Alison said in an unusually high voice. “She just couldn’t find something to wear!” Her eyes widened for a second. “She told me!”

“Yeah, she call it out to you from your master bathroom?” Sarah asked, both eyebrows raised.

Alison covered her mouth with her hand.

Cosima laughed, then took in Alison’s reaction, snorted, covered her own mouth and said, a bit too loudly. “Hooooly shit!”

Alison had gotten up and left the pub on the verge of tears, and after a panicked phone call, Beth had been avoiding her, ignoring her texts and calls since. 

“I honestly never meant to say anything. Sarah just dug it out of me,” Alison told Beth now. 

Beth pressed the heels of her hands against her closed eyes. “They can’t know,” she said. “I can’t have them know.”

“Maybe it doesn’t even really matter,” Alison began.

“ _Doesn’t even really matter?_ ” Beth repeated. “Ali, we’re CLONES. Genetic identicals! They’re gonna think I’ll hit on them next—or that I’m the most narcissistic person to ever LIVE—”

“Oh, please, Beth, we’re _completely_ different people,” Alison rolled her eyes. “We don’t even know how they’re reacting at all!”

“You haven’t spoken to anyone?” Beth said.

“No one, have you?”

“No. Sarah called once. Helena called twice, but I didn’t answer.”

Alison rested her forehead on the table, thinking miserably of an intoxicated Cosima loudly and eagerly announcing to anyone who would listen the exact nature of Beth and Alison’s relationship. “So what do we do?”

Beth was so quiet for the next minute that Alison thought she’d hung up. At length she said, “let’s show up for bowling at four o’clock.”

“Oh!” Alison sounded even more surprised than she did relieved. She looked at her watch. It was very soon, “Oh, I’ll need to go, uh, look for my car keys…” she started to gather herself and stand up.

“No, don’t,” Beth said, strapping her seatbelt back on. “I’ll come pick you up.”

 

 

Beth and Alison didn’t talk as they drove to the Bowling Alley. Realistically this sequence of events was something they should have prepared for, but it had never been an option for anyone to find out, so they had avoided even considering it as such. Now it seemed clear that however the rest of the gang responded to it would dictate where their relationship would go from here—or whether one or both of them needed to leave the country and go into hiding.

Alison took a deep breath as Beth pulled into a parking spot, and when she saw that the breath was not released, Beth reached over and gave Alison’s hand a comforting squeeze. “C’mon, Ali,” she said, but there was more gentleness in these small words than Alison had heard in her voice in days and for a moment it seemed like things might be all right.

As they walked into the building, Beth took Alison’s hand again, and didn’t let go as they approached the high table where Sarah, Cosima, and everyone else were already gathered. Felix saw them coming and schooled his expression into one of unbreakable disinterest. His change in mood caused everyone else to turn around. There was a long pause while they all took in the handholding and the defiant look on Beth’s face.

Finally Tony broke the silence, saying, “So I hear you huge _LESBIANS_ have been holding out on us. What’s the deal?” He was grinning and his silver tooth glinted in the light. “Didn’t think us uptight d-bags could handle the scandal?” He waggled his eyebrow and elbowed Felix playfully in the ribs, disrupting his perfected aloof expression.

“Honestly, “ Felix said to Alison. “I am a bit offended. See if I let you in on _my_ juicy secrets in future.”

Here Helena unexpectedly took Beth’s free hand and cocked her head to one side, saying, “We are family. Family has no secrets, yes?”

Cosima interrupted then. “No, you guys, it’s not about _us,_ right? It’s _totally_ none of our business and it was my bad for ever bringing it up and drinking too much, and, like, I am sooo sorry. Sorry, Alison, okay? My total bad.”

Alison was trying not to cry at this point, so Beth pulled focus by saying loudly, “So are you punks ready for me to kick your asses at bowling yet again?”

“Right, whooping us at bowling,” Tony snorted. “Makes you sound real tough.”

“Next you’ll punish us on the croquet court, I’m sure,” Felix teased.

“Hey man, bowling is a serious sport,” Beth said defensively as they moved to put on their bowling shoes.

“The balls can be quite heavy,” Helena agreed.

Only Sarah and Alison were left at the table.

“Wasn’t sure you two’d show,” Sarah said.

“I wasn’t sure, either,” Alison sighed.

After a pause, Sarah said, “Cos is right, you know. We were out of line, shouldn’t have pressured you.” She watched Alison for a moment. “None of our business.” She seemed to be waiting for Alison to respond, but Alison remained quiet.

“Really though, why… why didn’t you tell us? D’you think I can’t be trusted?”

“NO!” Alison said, her eyebrows darting up. “Not that at all. I wanted to tell you but I thought… if we said it out loud, if anyone besides us two knew… it would end. It couldn’t be real, so it would have to stop, and Beth…” Alison smiled faintly as she watched Beth wrestling Tony for a particularly heavy, lethal looking ball. “She’s good, Sarah. Beth is probably the best thing I’ve ever had— aside from my kids of course,” she added quickly. 

Sarah smiled, looking hard at Alison. “Then I’m glad you have her.”


End file.
